Although Hollywood is often attacked by preachers and politicians, many pastors have discovered some film makers are fellow travelers in the quest for the "truth that makes us free." John Duncan, author of the fine article appearing in the March/April, 1996 issue of Preaching provided many examples of film scenes that could be used to illustrate Biblical passages and sermon themes. Duncan rightly suggested the alert preacher will find many such helps in current films -- as sermonizers of years past found in novels and poetry memorable passages that highlighted important points of their messages.

In this article I intend to probe a bit deeper into film and theology by suggesting the need to develop a theology of seeing, one that will be of help both to preachers and to their Sunday morning listeners. Our starting point will be the parables of Jesus, for in what the Gospels of Mark and Matthew make clear was his favorite device, our Master gives us a teaching method that is far more affective and effective than the usual dry, didactic method of other teachers -- and of so much preaching.

"Parable," as most pastors have learned, is from the Greek, meaning "to cast," or "lay alongside." The prophet Nathan, in his parable told to King David, laid alongside each other two instances of injustice. David was so caught up in the need to redress the wrong done by the rich man, who slew the poor man's pet lamb, that his conscience cried out, and thus was trapped when Nathan pointed to the parallel situation in the King's own life, his lust for Bathsheba that led to the slaying of her husband Uriah.

In the parables recorded in the Synoptic gospels Jesus usually lays alongside each other some aspect of the Kingdom of God and everyday life, the parable often introduced by such a formula as "the Kingdom of God is like..." Jesus took something familiar to his audience and compared it to the unfamiliar, the Kingdom of God. All of his listeners knew of lost coins, sheep and sons; seed sown; growing bushes; weeds; houses built upon rocks and flood plains; and many other situations. Some of Jesus' parables are brief similes, such as The Parables of the Weeds and of the Yeast, whereas others are more complex stories, such as The Good Samaritan or The Rich Man and Lazarus.

Two other aspects of Jesus' parables are important, especially as they relate to our consideration of film -- their subversiveness and their secularity: Many of the parables were told in situations in which Jesus sought to go against the accepted opinions and mores of his listeners. And few of his parables were, on the surface, "religious."

As with Nathan's use of a parable to attack the conscience of King David, Jesus often indirectly attacked his opponents or their views. Not only does a parable get around the defenses of his opponents, but the story parable draws the listener into it, so that he or she struggles with its meaning and application -- and then, suddenly, like David, realizes, that's me! Some cases in point: Jesus' assault on the spiritual arrogance of "some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else" -- the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector" (Luke 16:9-14, NIV). Or, earlier, when he was under fire from the Pharisees for associating with "tax collectors and sinners," his emphasis upon seeking "the lost" in the three parables of Luke 15.